Catherine Opie: Figure and Landscape

Art of the Americas Building, Level 2

July 25, 2010–October 17, 2010

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art features recent work by the internationally renowned and LA-based photographer Catherine Opie. The show’s primary focus is high-school football, a subject that allowed Opie to explore issues of masculinity, community, and national identity. Over the last three years, Opie photographed football games and players in seven states across America. Atmospheric cues locate each regional site, while gestures and gazes reveal the adolescent players’ disparate psychologies. Looking past the clichés associated with football, Opie perceives diversity in the individuals and communities that celebrate the game. Shown in conjunction with LACMA’s exhibitionManly Pursuits: The Sporting Images of Thomas Eakins, Opie’s work similarly addresses and overturns conventions of idealism and realism.

This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and made possible by the Wasserman Foundation.

Image: Collection of the artist, courtesy Regen Projects

Catherine Opie

In spite of the many great after-hours events that LACMA has, my homebody tendencies usually get the better of me. But tomorrow night will be the exception when the Crenshaw High School Marching Band performs on campus.

Many of our cherished memories are made from sweat and fun at some sport or another. So there’s a visceral reaction to Manly Pursuits: The Sporting Images of Thomas Eakins and Catherine Opie: Figure and Landscape. And, although many of us may not have known the bullfighting sport in Picasso and la Tauromaquia, a small installation in the Ahmanson Building, it too recalls the “passion” in which these activities reside in the times, the culture, and us.